


The Desert Planet

by Donkeyk18



Series: Me Amongst the Stars [4]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:41:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23376325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donkeyk18/pseuds/Donkeyk18
Summary: As part of the 'Me among the stars' series, this adventure finds Shepard and her core team conducting a planet side recon mission at an old Saren base. Unfortunately, as is often the case with the commander ; there are no simple missions, and the crew find themselves responding to a distress beacon not far from their current location. Led by Shepard, the away-team investigate but the situation quickly escalates after they are attacked by a giant threshar maw separating Liara and Shepard from the rest of the crew. The specter and her biotic girlfriend need to get back to Normandy, a task easier said than done.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Liara T'Soni
Series: Me Amongst the Stars [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/161780
Kudos: 10





	1. DISTRESS BEACON

**Begin**

“That’s the last of it commander”; the Turien's voice growled through the comm; as Garrus walked up to the commander signalling that the last of what could be salvaged from the lab had been placed on the Mako.

“Final sweeps, then let’s move out…this place gives me the creeps”; came Commander Shepard’s reply to the small crew she had taken planet side for this recognisance mission.

Each of the crew moved out to do a final sweep of their quadrants of the lab, as the commander proceeded to survey a half organic; half robotic Geth. Obviously there had been some attempts at creating a hybrid of sorts in the lab.

Shepard and her crew had been on a deep space clean up mission in the wake of the Saren attack on the Citadel. The mission was solely to find and destroy any remaining Geth strong-holds or Saren loyalists that may be plotting against the Citadel or the council. Over the past few months, the Normandy and its crew had provided intervention in both a humanitarian and military capacity. This deep in space there was little in the way of council aid to the often struggling colonies which had settled on the galactic rim. This particular outpost was identified by Liara who had intercepted comms between mercenary groups who were particularly interested in the Geth weapons technology. Fortunately, Shepard had made it to the outpost before the mercenaries, and hopefully they could get out of there before they showed up. As Shepard was well aware, those Batarians rarely backed down from a fight. The spectre continued to inspect some of the remains of the lab and shuddered at the thought of the many abominable experiments and procedures that were carried out whilst Saren remained under the protection spectre prominence. 

“All clear commander”; Liara’s metallic voice came through the comms.

“All right, saddle up, let’s move out”. Shepard spoke with authority, and headed to the door. Just outside was the Mako, loaded with whatever could be salvaged from the lab. Certain items were a necessary salvage for the Normandy, and could be used to repair or enhance some of its own systems. Others of what was salvaged would be catalogued and passed on to the council for further research and examination.

Liara, Garrus and Talie strapped in as the commander started the Mako, revving it slightly getting ready to move off. They braced themselves, the Mako didn’t handle very well at the best of times, but with the Commander behind the wheel, it was nothing short of a miracle that they made anywhere in the Mako. LV-97 was a small desert moon orbiting Asteria in the Hekate System – the dry, dusty dunes offered the wild and unsafe sort of fun the commander enjoyed most. Shepard glanced back at her crew one last time to make sure they were strapped in and had their ‘braced’ face on. A smirk grew across her face, and a small glint appeared in her eye.

The three, unfortunate passengers double and triple checked their harnesses; and rightly so. The spectre revved the engine hard and sped off into the powdery dunes of the small moon; leaving sprays of murky dust shooting into the air behind the Mako. Shepard was a notoriously bad driver, but above that she whole heartedly believed in pushing the functionality of her equipment, often in ways it was never meant for. This particular moon had a strange composition of hard stone and soft powdery dunes. The hard rocks rose from the moon surface as massive mountains with steep drops, and jiggered razor sharp faces that could easily impale the Mako if approached at the wrong angle. The alternative was deep wells of thick sludgy sand that could very easily consume the Mako. High winds that made using the booster’s dangers and poor visibility only contributed to the otherwise dangerous conditions of the moon. However none of this was a deterrent for the commander. Shepard put the Mako into a low gear, climbing the steep inclines, convinced that that it would be a much shorter journey back to the shuttle, as opposed to driving around the mountains. She wasn’t wrong, as a direct route would cut the four hour drive down to 1, but it was dangerous. The mako struggled significantly in some areas as it summited the mountains, and slid almost uncontrollably down the adjacent side upon the decent. The crew sat, praying to their individual Gods.

“Mako to drop shuttle; come in – over” Commander Shepard’s voice crackled through the comms.

Static; there was no answer.

“Mako to drop shuttle, come in – over” Commander Shepard spoke again.

For a second time static dominated the comm-link – “Dr---p Shhhhhh---ttle cOpy – comm link----sshhhhhhhsssshhhhh - d-----r--------d--------------ammder – over”.

“Interference from the mountains commander, I’ll try to clean up the signal”; Garrus sat forward and began adjusting the frequency. “Try again”, the Turien sat still, hand hovering over the controls.

“Mako to drop shuttle, come in – over”.

“Drop shuttle copy – comms experiencing a lot of interference – please advise over”. A pilot’s voice made it through the link.

“We are going through a mountainous area. We should clear it in a few minutes. Status report – over”.

“Nothing to report commander, what’s your position – over”.

“We are 15 klicks out – you should have visual in a few minutes, approach position bearing East South-East. Start warming her up – I’m ready to get off this rock.”

“Roger that ma’am. Over”.

Shepard continued her reckless climb of the mountains; pushing the Mako harder and harder up the slippery incline; using the boosters to seemingly jump over some parts, sharply correct at others and slide dangerously down ever so slightly at points when the Mako simply lost grip. 

“Commander, the Mako really isn’t designed for this sort of…..abuse” Garus fumbled as he shook and swayed with the Mako. Tali took a deep breath – she had become particularly prone to motion sickness when Shepard was driving.

“Sure it is.” Came the commanders confident reply – “if we don’t push our technology, how will we know where it can be improved?” she finished with an evident smirk in her voice.

“True commander, but perhaps this is not the best environment – “ the Mako slid cutting Garus off as he held on to the safety strap above his head.

“If I may interject commader” Tali’s synthetic voice emerged through the comms amidst some grunting from Garus; “what Garus is trying to say is these moons are notorious for their housing of Giant Threshamaws. Which as you can determine, indicates they are a lot bigger than the normal Threshermaws…and perhaps if we didn’t disturb as much of the surface by landing so hard…maybe…”

“Copy that Tali; but don’t Threshermaws prefer sandy environments?” Commander Shepard half interrupted.

“yes, I suppose they do commander…” Tali trailed off, not overly invested in any sort of debate.

“excellent, we will stick to the rocky mountain range then”… the Commander said proudly.

The crew continued to rock back and forth, with the mako as the commander navigated the steep inclines. Just as the shuttle appeared in focus, a light began to flash on the console in front of the commander. Garrus sat forward to inspect it.

“What is it?” Shepard asked with a sense of authority.

“it appears to be a distress beacan ma’am – there doesn’t appear to be a UID (Unique Identification)”.

“How far?”

“Just under 100 klicks commander”

“Risk evaluation”

“Commander it is possible that a group of mercenaries have activated a signal in an effort to draw out any friendlies willing to assist”. Liara spoke into the Comm.

“Commander Shepard to shuttle, come in over.”

“Copy commander”

“We’ve picked up a distress signal about 100 klicks from our current position; what’s your readings”.

“Ay commander, I have picked up the same signal. Scanners cannot determine the identity of the signal ma’am. I must caution that it is most likely a group of mercenaries; over”.

“Are there any colonies near by?”

“ay commander, a small native colony about 50 klicks south of the beacons position”.

“We will investigate – Shuttle – go on ahead and survey the situation. Keep a good distance, we will meet you there.”

“Ay yay commander”.

The commander turned sharply off the mountain range that she had been climbing, and using the mako thrust function jumped off the cliff face, landing hard on the soft sand at the bottom of the mountain. All chatter in the shuttle had stopped, they were now on a mission. Over head the team could see the shuttle fly overhead and disappear quickly behind the mountain range.

The team continued for a few minutes in silence, about 40 klicks from the beacon the comm-link crackled. The shuttle was trying to contact the mako.

“Dr----p sssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh-----“

“Garrus, can you clean this up”

“Ay commander”; the turian had already been trying to boost the signal.

“Mako to Drop shuttle, come in – over”, the commander spoke clearly and loudly.

“SSSHHHHHHHHHHH” still no response

“Mako to drop shuttle, come in – over”…the commander repeated, and waited for a response.

“Drop shuttle copy; over” the pilots voice cracked over the sound of static of the comm-link.

“Whats your status, drop shuttle – over”

“I’ve reached the location of the beacon ma’am. Visibility is poor. There’s some kind of dust storm in the area. I cant get a clear reading on my scanners, t – m-ch int-rfer—ce” The pilot’s voice crackled and ceased in a spray of static.

The beacon wasn’t active when they landed, It might have been possible although unlikely that the beacon was activated accidentally. If the beacon pre-dated the interstellar UID requirement for all ships, then the power cells should have been shot…which meant that turning it on was definitely on purpose. Unless the beacon wasn’t a distress beacon but another Prothean artefact…but even then there would be some kind of distinguishing energy signatures which Liara would have recognised. Shepard’s mind raced. These deep-space cleanup missions were’nt the easiest and they definitely werednt the safest – especially when you are heading into an unknown situation with an infinite number or probable risks and enemies.

“7 Minutes to contact ma’am” Garuss broke the commander’s thought.

“Any further communications from the Drop Shuttle” Shepard asked, her mind holding onto the various scenarios she has been assessing.

“No ma’am” Garrus replied, a tension in his voice.

Shepard exhaled deeply as she turned on the boosters. The drop-shuttle, although equipped with shields was not designed for combat and was unarmed other than the pilot. Finally, the distress beacon appeared within range of the mako’s digital imaging system and a blueprint of the area appeared on the display screen of the Mako. The beacon stood alone, flashing between two steep inclines, with a small opening between the two ridges and sheer drop directly opposite it. The entrance of the enclave was protected by a steep incline where mounds of sand gave way under the Mako’s weight. The vehicle seemed to slide down into the valley below more than it drove. Thick clouds of dust and sand swirled and twisted in the valley hitting the Mako. With gritty splashes. The infernal dust storm and low light reduced visibility to a few metres. Other than the beacon, the area was unevenly-flat but dune-like.

“I can’t get a clear reading commander. There’s a lot of feedback from the valley. Garrus spoke whilst trying to adjust the scanners.

Eventually, Shepard brought the Mako to a stop near the beacon. There was no sign of anyone in distress; but the absence of any one at all, hostile or friendly was strange. She and her team sat quietly in the Mako, each one peeling through the small windows of the vehicle, trying their upmost to see through the dust and make out any movement.

“Mako to shuttle, come in over” Shepard tried; but there was no answer. In this valley there was no possibility that they would be able to reach the drop shuttle. She didn’t try again. Several minutes ticked by, and the team remained in the Mako, silently watching the dust rage.”

“Well I think it’s rather rude, this is a perfect set up for an ambush and there’s no one here ?” Tali eventually broke the silence.

Shepard raised her eyebrows and nodded to herself, she couldn’t disagree. There was something wrong with the whole situation, it all just felt…too convenient. Poor visibility, one entrance or exit and few places to take cover - this was the perfect place to orchestrate an ambush. Shepard was uncomfortable and the team could sense it. She reduced her speed to just more than a roll. Tali manned the Mako’s cannon, but this was of little value as the targeting system relied on the same scanners which Garrus couldn’t get to work.

“Maybe they gave up waiting for the dust to settle” Garrus responded dryly, as he peered through the front windshield. Shepard glanced at him from the sideways…puns –.

“I don’t know, something here doesn’t seem right” Shepard spoke up; “I’m going to deactivate the beacon – Liara you’re on my Six; Garrus, bring the Mako around one more time, see if you can find anything, a clue or anything about the cloaking tech these guys are using…stay alert I don’t think these are just younglings messing about” Shepard ordered as she squinted through the windscreen; her voice tense.

“Ay Commander” The crew answered in unison.

“Stay on short wave frequency” Shepard shouted as she climbed out of the top-hatch of the Mako, followed by Liara.

.........to be continued


	2. Chapter 2

Commander Shepard sank slightly in the soft sand of the dessert planet as she and Liara trudged towards the barely visible beacon beeping just ahead of them. Behind them the Mako moved off to do another sweep of the area. The valley was airily quiet and dark. The sounds of howling wind as it rushed through the space between the mountain ridges; and the smashing of thousands upon thousands of sand granules against the helmets of the Commander and her comrade were deafening. Shepard walked slowly, tactfully on ward, squinting her eyes as she tried her best to see as far as she could amidst the dust and sand. Liara moved behind the commander, following the dim lights of her armor.

“Liara, can you read me?” Shepard spoke loudly into her helmet.

“Ay commander” came the Asari’s crackling reply.

“Sweep around to my 3”

“Ay commander” the Asari answered, as she sped up slightly to walk almost along side the commander. The pair moved almost like centuries, scanning their surrounds as far as they could see. It was a good bet, that if they and their equipment struggled under these conditions, any potential threat would face the same issue.

It briefly crossed the commander’s mind that perhaps there was an ambush set up, but the assailants may have given up due to the poor conditions. This thought didn’t belay the commander’s concerns, she was well aware that there was a whole host of species and tech developed for home-world’s that the alliance didn’t possess. As the pair neared the beacon, Shepard stepped on something hard and foreign to the sandy dunes. She knelt to retrieve it, Liara stopped – completing a slow 360, eye to scope of their surrounds.

“What is it?” Liara spoke weapon at the ready.

Shepard dug out a piece of equipment about the size of her hand. She dusted it; and brought it close to her helmet to inspect it.

“Looks like a helmet cam – it might be able to tell us what the hell is going on here.” She fiddled with the item, as if trying to get it to project. Most modern helmet cams had that feature. “It’s to damaged, I’ll take it back to the lab for a forensic” Shepard concluded as she stood up, stowed the device and continued towards the beacon.

“Commander, I’m picking up some strange seismic activity – its reading as some sort of ripple in the mantle traveling at speed to this location” Tali’s half robotic voice traveled through the comm.

“Threshar maws?” Shepard asked, she carried on towards the beacon.

“Possible, but the readings are showing activity at almost 4 kilometers below the surface, that’s far too deep for a Thresher Maw”.

“Whatever, we are almost done here, pick us up at the beacon, I’ve had enough of this planet”. 

“Ay commander” Garrus answered.

Shepard reached the beacon. It was definitely placed there on purpose, the edge of the cliff drop – which made the commander think that this must have been used to threatened aid-respondents. Cooperate or die. She thought. The beacon’s technology was new enough to possess both a long lasting power-cell and a UID. Why it didn’t have the latter – Shepard still didn’t know. Deactivating it was a relatively straight forward process, but the commander wanted to make sure it was permanently disabled and this meant she needed to disconnect and destroy the power cells by overloading them with a few well learned sabotage techniques

“Mako inbound” Liara spoke, her back to the commander and the beacon as she continued to keep vigil over the valley. Shepard stood upright and dusted her hands, perhaps she was being paranoid about the situation.

“As soon as we clear this valley we should be able to make contact with the shuttle” Shepard said as she walked away from the now sparking beacon to join Liara.

“Shepard do you feel that” Liara turned towards the commander with a terrified look on her face. Shepard stopped, yes, tremors beneath their feet. Within seconds the tremors turned into an outright earthquake, the two began to run towards the Mako, which was speeding towards them. They barely made it a few feet when a Giant Thresher Maw burst through the ground, up-shelving sprays of sand just behind the Mako. Shepard and Liara came to a halt and in sync raised their weapons as the Mako’s turret gun spun to face the monster and all began shooting furiously. This Thresher Maw wasn’t like others they had encountered before, for one, it was much larger than anything they had ever seen, which says something as most Thresher Maws only reach about 30 metres in height above ground, but this was obviously closer to double that.

The Thresher May attacked the Mako with a spray of acid, following the vehicle as it tried to gain some distance from the beast. Liara and Shepard stopped firing, their weapons were ineffective at this distance. They both began charging forward, as a second figure burst through the sand off to the left and immediately came plummeting down. Acting almost on instinct, Liara generated a biotic burst throwing herself and Shepard in opposite directions, out of the way of the second thresher maw. ‘Two Thresher Maw’s’, Shepard’s brain grappled as she scrambled to her feet. The figure wreathed violently on the ground, and then snaked towards the thresher maw. Shepard looked closely, this wasn’t a second thresher maw, it was the tail with God knows how much of the animal still beneath the ground. The tail disappeared beneath the surface once again as it moved in the direction of the Mako.

“GARRUS BENEATH YO- !!” without warning the tail burst through the sand once again, just beneath the Mako flinging the vehicle hard into the mountain side. Through the fog, Shepard could see the boosters as Garrus tried to maneuver the Mako on the rocks. The thresher maw wasn’t done with the Mako. The beast attacked head first, slamming itself hard into the mountain side, trying its utmost to crush the relatively small vehicle. Loud cannon fire echoed in the valley as the Mako fired wildly. The combination of the boosters and the cannon pushed the Mako further up the mountain ridge as they tried to retreat to higher ground.

“Liara?! Where are you” Shepard screamed into her helmet, turning frantically.

“Shepard!” Liara ran towards Shepard, somewhat out of breath.

“We need to get that animal away from the Mako!” Shepard spoke as she signaled Liara and began charging the Thresher Maw.

“I’ve never seen a Thresher Maw behave like this” Liara heaved into her mic as she chased the commander. Shepard stopped when she reached what she considered an effective distance and began shooting grenades at the giant thresher maw to get its attention. The Mako itself continued to fire in what seemed to be a random pattern, missing the thresher maw with each shot, but pushing itself further and further up the steep mountain ridge. The vehicle disappeared beyond the mountain ridge; at which point the Thresher Maw turned sharply to face the annoying specter and blue alien.

Not one to consider herself technically afraid of anything, Shepard inhaled sharply and lowered her weapon taking two steps backwards – they now had the attention of a giant thresher maw. The pair, turned and began running towards the beacon; not entirely sure of what their plan was; but it was too late, the Thresher Maw had begun its pursuit above ground. Tons of sand gave way in the wake of the giant as it slithered over the planet’s surface. At full gait, the pair crossed the valley, but they were no match for the sheer speed of thresher maw. Ahead of Shepard she saw the ominous shadow grow, she turned to look over her shoulder and saw the serpent raise itself and cock its body backwards as it prepared to spew a vile river of acid. In a less than graceful move, Shepard thrust herself into Liara, attempting to throw each other out of the line of fire. But she wasn’t fast enough, searing-green acid splashed across helmet, and the left side of her armor instantly eating through her shields and began eating through and corroding the ablative ceramic plates, stopping at the Kevlar layer beneath.

Shepard landed heavily on Liara, the damage was done, the acid had destroyed her shield battery, which now began to short circuit, electrocuting the Specter. Liara had managed to dislodge herself from under Shepard, standing upright on her knees, she watched the Thresher Maw wind back for another attack. Drawing her shotgun, the Asari shot 4 quick plasma balls at the animal, just enough to cause it to submerge. Liara turned toward Shepard who lay convulsing as the current surged through her body. Liara kicked the commander over onto her front to access the battery source at the back of her suite. With a biotic singularity she destroyed the battery pack. The commander inhaled deeply as her nervous system resumed normal function.

But there was no chance to rest, out of no-where the tail of the serpent collided with the two, throwing them backwards closer the edge. Liara controlled her landing with her biotics as she watch Shepard flop to the ground, still reeling from the effects of her electrocution.

“SHEPARD MOVE!!!” Liara screamed frantically, but the commander remained still, unconscious.

The thresher maw twisted itself around and lined up, raising its head up slightly and then throwing itself towards the commander with evident force. There was no escaping now! Shepard was going to die, Liara’s mind wreathed and then stopped. In a moment that seemed to defy all physics everything slowed. Liara hovered some feet above the ground as all the chaos stilled, and the wind stopped rushing past her, and the sand stopped beating her helmet, and the thresher maw continued to hurtle towards the ground but now at a pace that was…well…the speed a vine seems to rock in a gentle summer breeze. Liara felt a power surge within her. It began somewhere deep inside her and crawled up her spine, radiating to every muscle fiber and tendon.

In a move that can only be described as flying, Liara thrust herself towards Shepard, with her right hand raised, and face turned towards the conscious specter Liara gleamed through the cracked helmet of the soldier. The thresher maw continued to fall towards the pair. Its thick, hide-like skin touched engaged the fingertips of the Asari igniting an explosion of biotic energy, flinging the giant beast backward but simultaneously throwing herself and Shepard over the edge of the cliff.


	3. Chapter 3

Shepard lay face-down in the sand. Her armour badly damaged, but partly intact. She stirred, her mind dazed she stood slowly, stumbling too and fro, a painful ringing in her ears. The commander took a moment to count her limbs, they were all intact. 

“Liara!” She called out, before gaining her balance.

“Shepard” Liara responded a bit hazed; “I’m all right” She spoke as she hobbling towards the commander. Shepard reached out, taking the Asari by the arm, holding her at a bit of a distance wanting to survey her.

“Are you hurt?” the spectre spoke with concern; turning the Asari to look for any blood. Liara’s armour had taken quite a beating and was cracked in most places; the worst being her helmet which appeared to have a long gash running along the side.

“I’m fine, are you hurt?” Liara pushed the spectres hands away.

“We need to get you better armour…” Shepard ignored the researcher “the Asari make some of the strongest armour I don’t know why you like wearing this low grade shit.”

“its light armour Shepard, I didn’t expect to be fighting a Thresher Maw when I got dressed this morning” Liara responded sarcastically.

“Always! Be prepared to fight a Threshar Maw” Shepard responded light heartedly as she partially dusted the asari off.

Her words weren’t yet cold when Liara felt a strong clamping force around her foot and was instantaneously dragged beneath the sand. Shepard reactively held on and the pair pulled under. Shepard held on for dear life. She couldn’t see a thing. She was being pulled beneath the surface of the planet by the fucking Thresher Maw. At this point both the spectre and the Asari were completely helpless. Sand and dirt rushed passed them as they travelled at incredible speed. Shepard caught only small glimpses of their captures glow as it traversed the underground. Shepard continued to hold on. ‘I must hold on’ Shepard thought, she couldn’t allow herself to let go, she simply couldn’t. The world around Shepard began to fade, ‘stay awake!’ her mind screamed. The animal continued to drag the pair, and the world continued to fade for Shepard.

***some time later***

“mmmm - - mmmmmmhhh” a muffled sound came through the comm link to Shepards helmet. She tried to open her eyes but struggled to open them little more than slits in the beaming sunlight. “hhhmmaaHd” the sound came again. Shepard sat slowly, squeezing her head out of her helmet, her memory was foggy and she wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, the last thing she remembered was……she and Liara were being dragged underground by a Thresher Maw……The muffled sounds continued in her ear piece….Liara!

Shepard stood quickly, and stumbled slightly, she was still a little disoriented.

“HHHHLLLMMEEEEE!”

“Liara!” Shepard screamed out as she spotted the asari, stumbling not too far from her. Liara didn’t respond, but that same muffled voice echoed through the comm. Liara was clawing at her helmet, struggling to take it off. Shepard stood uneasily, something was wrong. She rushed across to Liara. Grabbing the Asari by the shoulders Shepard spun her around. Shepard’s eyes grew wide, Liara’s helmet was completely filled with sand suffocating her.

“Hold on” Shepard spoke loudly, as she felt around the helmet, looking for the release clip. It was completely crushed.

“The valve is jammed, don’t move”. Shepard shouted, looking for any sharp object she would be able to use to break the clip. Pulling off a piece of her own armour, she jammed the metal against the clip and hit is hard with a rock. With a sharp click followed by a puff of smoke as the last of the gas released from the oxygen tubes. Shepard helped Liara lift the helmet up and off, as sand poured out. Liara leaned forward, clasping her collar with one hand and holding onto Shepard with the other for stability; inhaling deeply and coughing.

Liara eventually straitened, her hand still clasming the commander’s shoulder, her eyes wide with panic as she looked in all directions. Shepard put her hands on Liara’s face, locking eyes “You’re okay” somewhere between a command and a confirmation; these simple words from Shepard dispelled the feeling of panic Liara had. Her breathing slowed and she took one last deep breath.

“Are you hurt Shepard?” Liara asked as she stepped away from the N7 soldier to survey her leg and assess the damage. The Thresher Maw hadn’t managed to pierce her skin, but all in all Liara’s armour was completely destroyed.

“I’m fine” Shepard said whilst she cast an eye over Liara’s leg just to be sure. 

Shepard began peeling off the shards of armour she had remaining. Their sharp and jiggered edges where nothing more than a hazard now. A small portion of her collar and chest plate was still relatively intact. Shepard held the mic in her collar trying to activate it, “Shepard to Mako, come in – Over.” She tapped it and spoke again: “Garrus can you read me?......Tali”. Nothing. She tried the homing beacon, all N7 suits had one built it. But this too was broken. Shepard checked her omni-tool it had been completely destroyed. Liara checked her communications; they too were down.

Liara stood across from the commander, picking off small pieces of her own armour. “Seriously, not even Kevlar?” Shepard asked in disbelief. “No, not even Kevlar today” Liara said flatly as she finished dusting off the last of her light armour under which she wore only a black compression pants and a tank top.

Despite the situation the commander stood for just a moment admiring the vision before her.

“shall we…take stock of the situation commander. One: we do not know where we are, two: we do not have any form of communication, three: we have no means of transport and four: we have only a utility belt worth of gear” Liara spoke counting on her fingers.

Shepard new the situation was precarious at best, but somehow anything said in the silky smooth voice of the Asari made everything….sound better.

“And we are stuck in the middle of a dessert with no water – we are probably going to die” Shepard chimed in somewhat sarcastically.

“The absence of water and the pervasiveness of sand does not definitively conclude this area or planet at large to be a desert Commander; despite what might be subjectively obvious, there are a vast more biomes than the 7 prevailing ones on earth. That said, according to the codex this a mineral rich planet with evidence of an abundance of subsurface water reservoirs. So no I don’t think we are going to die, but -” Liara informed the commander.

“- Liara it was a joke” Shepard squeezed the Asari’s forearm cutting her off.

“How can you possibly joke at a time like this, as I have evaluated we are without transport, communication or a knowledge of where we are.” Liara said in a bit of a huff.

“I try to take one win at a time” Shepard poked as she started to ascend a nearby stack. It was in basic training that the commander first learned about vantage points, and climbing the stack – although not the best – would give her a chance to get her bearings. The Commander heaved herself up the smooth walls of the stack, slowly and carefully; being dragged through the underground had damaged her enough and she didn’t want to break anything by being clumsy.

“I’m sure there is an easier way to get a view of our surroundings” Liara called from below. Shepard had reached about a quarter way up the difficult boulder like formation.

“Yea?” Shepard called out, “I don’t see you offering to get up the boulder” she muttered to herself as she continued. Just as she finished, she caught the remnant of a bluish light raising upwards in the corner of her eye. Liara had engulfed herself in a singularity and was raising herself up, a lot higher than the stack and definitely a lot faster than Shepard could have climbed.

“On earth that’s called showing off.” Shepard shouted upwards and then jumped back down landing in the powdery sand, she allowed herself to fall backwards into a comfortable seating position. Somewhere in the back of her mind she felt a little old for the job, but at the same time, reminded herself that she had just been dragged for God knows how long, by a giant Thresher Maw and with that consideration, feeling like one was just hit by a Normandy sized transport – was understandable.

Liara landed gently a small way away from where the commander sat. “There’s a comm’s tower not far from here.” Liara spoke as she walked towards the seated captain.

“Whats the catch?” Shepard asked cooley.

“There’s a pretty steep climb it seems”

“Well that’s okay, you can just use your biotics to get us over” Shepard teased as she looked up at the Asari.

“Oh come now, you have biotics as well. You just lack a bit of polishing. All of the alliance does in fact.” Liara responded, stretching out her hand to commander to help her up.

Shepard chuckled to herself and grabbed the asari’s hand whilst pushing herself upward with her other hand. This way she didn’t put to must strain on the Asari, even though it allowed Liara to feel like she helped.

“So whats the play Dr Tsoni?” Shepard asked, dusting herself off.

“Play commander? I’m afraid I am not familiar with this phrase”

“Game play …strategy?”.

“Oh I see, well I would imagine that once we reach the comm tower, we should be able to signal the Normandy”.

“That is true Doctor, then what?”

“Well then we will be able to track down the shuttle and get an evac and we can launch a full investigation into who triggered the beacon and why” Liara said looking back as she confidently marched in the direction of the comm tower.

“Absolutely doctor, I follow you” Shepard smiled her famous smile and Liara couldn’t help but be distracted. That Shepard smile was so infectious after all.

The pair set off in the direction of the comm tower, sun beating down on them. Shepard pondered the idea of _the desert planet_ as they trudged through the dense sand. Liara wasn’t wrong, the absence of water doesn’t guarantee a desert. That is very much an earth construct. Overall, the sun was warm, but not blazing. The atmosphere was more dry than it was hot. Shepard laughed inwardly, wasn’t dry a direct result of the absence of water…it was these small things that the commander liked to contemplate. She often thought that it was this sort of thinking that made her human.

“What if we get to the comm tower and it doesn’t work?” Liara asked, a small bit of doubt creeping into the back of her mind, making her think she should have asked this long before they left.

“That’s a good question, what do you think we should do?” Shepard responded to her question with a question which Liara generally hated.

“Well to be honest Shepard I don’t know, I didn’t consider the possibility of the tower being down when we set off. And I assume that we would have to use it as a vantage point to look for other nearby points of interest or perhaps a small settlement.” Liara answered thoughtfully. In short she hadn’t really thought it threw.

“You’re half right, we would need to use the tower as a second vantage point, but not in the way you’re thinking. All comms tower’s are equipped with a small service pack that house a data terminal. This is used to record all UID or PINs of all devices which use the comm tower to relay a signal. It also stores the transmission time of relaying and receiving data. Since all connection speeds are the same, we can assume that the transmission time will vary according to distance. Yes it will be a nano-second worth of difference, but the reasonable assumption is that the shortest transmission time will be the location of closest device.”

“How do you know where the UID or PIN was transmitted from?”

“Well, we can hack the system to triangulate the position of the UID and then use the comm tower like an old sonar system”

Liara took a moment to review all that the commander had just said before nodding in agreement with the logic “how do you know this?”

“know what?”

“Just everything that you just said”

“I think you are confusing knowing the solution to our problem with knowing the parts of a solution and problem solving to come to a solution. I didn’t study information communication technologies if that’s what you are asking. I actually came across this bit of useless information by accident one day and it’s been stored up in my brain ever since.” Shepard paused before she continued: “But if I can give you some advice, it would be to think through your problems in a different way. As a researcher you learn to work your way from the beginning to the end of any question. Which is perfectly acceptable and so your research becomes like uncovering a mystery, each puzzle piece leads you to a new piece, and although you had an idea of the problem initially, it is only through the very organic process of finding each piece of the puzzle and putting it together that you complete the question and answer simultaneously. True or not”

Liara considered what the commander was saying before agreeing “Yes, it is true, and yes that is why research tends to evolve organically. Especially none clinical research, it does require a degree more agility to adapt to new information you didn’t know you were looking for until you found it.”

Shepard smiled, “exactly, but you see in certain situations such as ours right now…and most situations in a combat setting…well we don’t always have the luxury of solving problems in an organic manner. We always have to consider expenditure of resources and effort versus benefit when making a decision. We need to achieve our goal with the least amount of expenditure of resources and effort with maximum benefit. So…you work the problem backwords and always think in the worst case scenario first and then work towards the best case scenario – at any one time you should have at least 6 possible play’s” Shepard finished with a bit of a huff. It wasn’t as hot as it perhaps should have been but she sure was thirsty.

Liara glanced over to Shepard, she always admired how smart she was. Many people often mistook the commander for a military brute whose moto was to shoot first and ask questions later, but Liara knew she was more complex and far more dynamic.

Liara on the other hand looked quite pristine, her skin slight glistening with a thin and delicate layer of sweat, that to shepard smelt like cinnamon if she were ever asked. The pair had reached the foot of the mountain which separated them from the comms tower. Thankfully, the sun was a lot lower than when they began, but this indicated another challenge to come.


	4. Chapter 4

Commander Shepard stood at the base of the mountain, just over which was the comm tower which they would use to contact the Normandy and arrange an extraction. What was meant to be a simple enough and straight forward recon mission decayed into a classic exercise in survive the dessert mission.

Shepard stared upwards and inhaled and exhaled deeply her eyes rolled up the mountain side, as it rose to pierce the sky with its arrow tip ridges she closed her eyes just as it seemed they were about to roll back into her head, she nodded to herself, a silent decision made within her. One way or another they would need to get over this mountain. It was times like this that Shepard’s mind very quickly and very briefly slipped to thoughts of a simpler life, perhaps one where she wasn’t being chased by mercenaries, wasn’t chasing spectre defectors or simply…wasn’t at the base of mountain that would take at least 12 hours to ascend with no knowledge of what is waiting on the other-side and little to no chance of respite at the summit before the probably 15 hour decent on the other side.

“Nervous Shepard?” Liara asked off to the right of the commander. 

“Just weighing the options” Shepard said, a little tired.

“It’s probably a 12 to 14 hour climb” Liara said, trying to coax a response out of the commander.

“That it probably is” Shepard responded still sounding tired and wearier of the alternative.

“Shepard, why are you so afraid of your biotics?” Liara finally blurted out, a little more exasperated than she intended.

“It’s not that I am afraid, it’s just that the most I have ever used my biotics for is to crush things, and even then…I wouldn’t say it was particularly controlled.” Shepards said with a bit of a laugh.

Liara nodded, she had seen the commander in combat and in truth her biotics were not her strongest skill. A few times in the past Liara caught glimpses of the commander in action and although she would never say anything, she did feel that the commander threw her opponents when she wanted to squash them in a biotic field or squash them when she was trying to apprehend an assailant. It wasn’t that the Asari, an advanced biotic user herself thought any less of the commander but she did feel a swell of empathy for Shepard’s struggles.

Asari are taught to use and master their biotic capabilities from a few months of age, just as human children are taught to sit or grasp objects with their hands or develop the necessary hand-and-eye coordination that they will need for their entire lives. Until recently, biotic powers were foreign to human genetics and could only be achieved through scientific and biological interventions some bordering on the barberic – Liara cringed inwardly.

Liara looked over at the commander who stood with her hand on her hips, her Kevlar entiched shirt clinging to her clammy body. Shepard looked down at the floor in front of her, her eyes reflecting a mind deep in thought as she kicked a rock away. Shepard glanced sideways to meet Liara’s eyes and her facial expression changed as that very Shepard smile lit up her face.

“Okay Liara, I don’t feel like 12 hours of climbing – teach me how to control my biotics” Shepard said, half surrendering.

Liara smiled and the Commander “Right then…”

Liara walked over to Shepard and turned her so that the two were facing each other. Shapard took a deep breath – ‘cinnamon’ she inhaled deeply.

“Shepard, how do you know how to hold your breath?” Liara asked calmly.

The commander looked at the Asari in an alien way “What do you mean?”

“How is it that you can take a breath, inhale and hold it? Breathing is an essential part of sustaining life yet you can stop breathing and whats more you can move the air, quite voluntarily from your mouth to your lungs and back up without it escaping”

Shepard thought for a moment, “I am aware of the air” she answered slowly

“But you cant feel it or touch it or hold” Liara coaxed.

“Pressure…there is a change in pressure – pressure is volume” The commander’s mind was kicking into overdrive.

“Exactly, you are aware of the change in pressure – Now biotics work almost the same way but instead of air – what you are feeling is energy. We need some atmosphere to conduct biotic energy”

Liara reached out and grasped the commander’s hands in her own, lifting them so that the palms faced the sky and they were perpendicular to the floor.

“I want you to concentrate on the air around your fingertips, concentrate on how the air is swirling or moving around them”.

Shepard looked at her hands, a small voice in her mind thinking this was silly – but if there was any chance she didn’t have to climb the mountain …

“Can’t you carry me – I know you’re strong enough” Shepard blurted out – sounding like a kid not wanting to do their homework.

“No. Now concentrate” Liara responded quickly – sounding a bit like a no-nonsense teacher.

Shepard took a deep breath and her fixed her gaze on her hand….concentrate – see the air Feel the air. She repeated to herself.

Liara watched the commander intently. Shepard concentrated harder and harder – the world around her hands fading away. Feel the air she thought over and over. A few minutes passed and the two remained silent….Liara was sure the commander could do it…she was sure….

Just as the Asari was about to say something she saw it…Shepard’s eyes began to flicker with tiny flecks of bright blue. A contract to her green eyes. Then there was a crackling – Shepard’s middle fingers and ring fingers were sparking the tiniest sparks.

“That’s it, hold it – you are doing it” Liara spoke softly.

Shepard tried to hold her concentration, more sparks began to flicker from her finger tips.

“Try to join the electricity between your hands. Send the energy from your right hand to your left but catch it with your left don’t just shoot it” Liara coached.

Shepard obliged, at first a massive bolt of energy burst from her right hand almost throwing her left hand out of contact, but Shepard managed to control it and ‘caught the energy’.

“That’s very good” said Liara “Now….Try and push back with your left hand…like a magnet would”

Shepard couldn’t believe it – she was actually controlling her biotics. At least here the word control was accurate. She could feel the power surging through her arms and after some attempts found a balance between her left hand and her right hand. The bolt like strings of energy emanating from her fingertips collided in the space between her hands.

Liara watched as the Commander disappeared further into her biotics, the space between her hands now beginning to swirl and turn into a spherical form. A biotic bubble the size of a grape fruit now occupied the space between the commander’s hands. The more the soldier concentrated the more the bubble grew, larger and larger until it could no longer fit between the commanders hands. Liara stepped back, she dare not speak, not wanting to break Shepard’s concentration. By no Shepard’s eyes had turned completely black, the veins in her face, neck and arm glowed a biotic glow. For the first time she was in control.

The orb of biotic energy continued to swirl, now large enough that it began picking wisps of sand that rotated with the orb. Shepard’s mind was blank, she could still see, but the vision collected in her eyes seemed distant, elsewhere. The biotic power – she had never felt it surge through her like this before. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wasn’t sure how to stop it – but at the same time she didn’t want to... Liara stepped a little further back, now taking a slight defensive stance.

“Commander…” The Asari said cautiously. Shepard didn’t respond.

“Commander, your orb…if it gets too big…Shepard you need to stop” Liara spoke louder.

“Shepard! You need to stop now!” Liara screamed. But Shepard couldn’t hear her over the sound of the wind rushing past as the orb grew.

“JAAAAAANNNNNEEEE!!!!”

Shapard flinched at the sound of her name – it was a little to late, the lapse in concentration cause Commander Shepard to lose control of her biotic orb which instantaneously began to wobble breaking its perfect form it rolled over itself, sparks of biotic energy flaring out sending cracking and ripping sounds through the air. Before Shepard could conceive what was happing the orb exploded, throwing her backwards a few hundred yards her arms raised instinctively protecting her face. Shepard landed with a hard thud, her fall thankfully cushioned by the soft sand. She rolled over with a groan “Liara” she forced out a lot softer than she intended.

“Shepard!” Liara ran over. Again she looked in a pristine condition, she recognised the early signs a an orb reaching destruction and threw up a biotic shield that deflected the blast. Shepard stood slowly, her ears ringing.

“Have you sustained any damage?” Liara asked with a small smile.

Shepard looked at the Asari, mirroring her small smile that was laced mostly with embracement she answered: “Sorry about that. Did the blast get you?”

Liara shook her head, helping the Commander dust herself off. Shepard looked around her, there was a small crater where she stood and several large rocks had become dislodges from the mountain face, sitting heavily at the base.

“That was very good Shepard, you did well. I didn’t expect you to amass such a large biotic field and make it grow – but I suppose it stands to reason….” Liara trailed off. Shepard swayed slightly and had lost a lot of colour in her face. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

“what’s wrong?” Liara asked.

“I just feel so drained. Its probably the heat and no water…but lets just get over this mountain and to the beacon. The suns are starting to get low – I don’t think we want to know what creatures come out at night” the Commander said a little breathlessly as she swayed on the spot again.

“Jane, creating that orb would have taken a lot out of you – I think we should make camp here for the evening. Tomorrow we can head over to the beacon and continue” Liara spoke gently –

“Liara, we don’t have a place to make camp – and I just…lets just” Shepard toppled slightly, but remained erect with the assistance of her alien comrade.

“Shepard just take it easy, I will make us a shelter”

“Make?”

Liara didn’t respond to the commander, but she stepped away slightly and faced the mountain ridge, standing in line with a deep fault that ran up the portion of the mountain. Shepard watched as the Asari raised her right hand, in the fault a blue biotic field began to glow, then a crunching sound and as if the mountain was opening up, the fault began to expand just enough to allow herself and the commander to squeeze through. Shepard watched somewhat awe struck, Liara was literally making them a shelter by carving through the mountain. Liara walked over to Shepard and slung her arm under the commander who had for the most part lost the ability to walk. Together the hobbled slowly to the fault and Liara squeezed through ahead of the commander. Shepard stood at the opening trying to look inside but could see nothing, the outside was still too bright. Not willing to allow Liara to continue without here, she turned sideways, and began shuffling through the crack into the dark fault line, her cheek pressed against the rocks at one point but she continued. Shepard felt the edge of the entrance end and she emerged into a wide and spacious cavern. Shepard’s eyes widened as she was greeted by glowing crystals that lit up the inside of the cave.

“How did you know this was here?” Shepard asked reaching to touch the crystals on the wall near here.

“I didn’t Shepard, I created it with a biotic singularity”. Liara spoke cooley.

“I didn’t know you could do that” Shepard said, still in awe.

Liara laughed softly as she ushered the commander further in and to take a seat on the smooth floor.

Shepard sat with a slight grown of agony, her body sore and tired. Being dragged underground for God alone how long and walking a good number of hours through the desert made her feel old and tired. Liara sat near the Commander with more of sigh of relief than a grown of pain. Shepard took off the utility belt and opened up one of the side pockets. In there were four finger sized rations of high protein biscuits. These high caloric biscuits were packed with all the essentials a soldier would need to survive a few days in a combat situation – that was if you didn’t choke on them first. Handing two of the biscuits to Liara, she leaned over and from another pouch on the belt she pulled out a small, flat disk. She very slowly and carefully unscrewed the black disk to reveal 10 pill-like pieces stuck to the thinner of the two halves. The thicker half of the disk she held in her hand and with a finger she pushed out the bottom of the cylinder to form a cut. Shepard handed the empty cup to Liara and carefully took out two pills from the lid. One blue and one yellow. She cracked each of them releasing powder into the cup. As soon as the contents of both pills interacted, the cup began to smoke and within seconds bubble. In the class was now a hot, steaming class of greenish, highly viscous glue-like liquid. Using technology from the Salarians, the Alliance had figured out how to make a water substitute that could sustain soldiers in just such precarious situations.

Liara placed the cup between them, allowing it to complete its reaction. And turned her attention to unwrapping her biscuit. The crinkled sound of the high density wrapping echoes in the cavern, along with the loud crunching of the biscuit as Shepard slowly chewed the biscuit into a gummy toffee like state. Liara chuckled inwardly…

“Such advancement in your technology and you soldiers still rely on these types of rations” she concluded taking her first bite of her biscuit and began the task of mashing up the biscuit enough to swallow.

“You know who has good rations – the Salarians. For them everything is in tablet form or these viles of liquid. One shot and you have all the nutrients and hydration you need” Shepard spoke in a relaxed tone as she leaned her head back against the wall behind, turning slightly to look out the entrance of the cave and watch the light dim even further.

“I read that human find comfort in food, and the act of chewing can boost moral” Liara spoke through a mouth full of gummy biscuit.

Shepard unconsciously raised the biscuit to her mouth again and bit off another piece moving it to the side of her mouth to soften.

“That logic comes from the Second World War…” Shepard said turning her head to look at a slightly confused Liara.

Shepard smiled and shuffled her position, and reached forward for the cup of green goo taking a long drawn out swig before swallowing hard and cleaning her tongue with the roof of her mouth. Shepard passed the cut to Liara and gestured for her to take a sip. It wasn’t pleasant but this goo did wonders for hydration and Shepard could almost feel it oozing into her veins and blood stream.

“about 260 odd years ago, a few territories back then were at war with each other…it was known as the World War and it was the second time so the Second World War or the Great War…” Shepard opened her eyes a little wider to emphasise the word ‘great’…”We hadn’t made first contact then – so we didn’t know any better to be honest…any way there was a stalemate on one of the European fronts and the men were stuck there for a few years. Any way it seemed like the fighting would never end and the men were really at an all-time low when it came to moral and fighting spirit – to boost morale the English Prime Minister of the time ordered that ever soldier be given a hot cup of tea and a biscuit. Of course in that time things like sugar and flower were very scarce, but they made it happen and you know what it worked. Everyone felt a lot better after that and the won the war I guess”. Shepard shrugged at the last part as she took another bite, she knew she glossed over quite a bit but was also sure Liara already knew the details of the war.

“Well if memory serves Commander, the end of Earths Second World War was a bit more complicated than that…but I recognise the benefit of a hot beverage – definitely helps with connecting to the things that help you remember home…But I don’t think these biscuits are what you meant” the Asari finished tapping the biscuit against the cup.

Shepard chuckled and finished off the last of her biscuit, washing it down with a sip of goo, not quite able to continue chewing. The pair sat in silence enjoying the feeling of safety and isolation in this Liara-made cave. Shepard stretched her right hand to the side off her, reaching to touch one of the glowing crystals. Still looking at the bioluminescent crystals she spoke softly; any light that was visible through the cave opening had completely darkened.

“Thank you for saving my life today”

“By that notion commander, I should be thanking you. You did take the majority of acid spray when you pushed me out of the way.” Liara responded casually, closing the cup and opting against the second biscuit as well.

“That’s different, I’m the commander – it’s my job to ensure that the team makes it out” Shepard shifted into a laying position, her right arm under her head whilst her left rested gently on her tummy.

“I must disagree with you, we are a team and we work as a team” Liara responded smoothly as she prepared a sleeping space near but separate from the commander.

Without warning, Liara felt a grip and then a tug, guiding her towards the Commander who had sat up and pulled Liara towards her, shuffling so that the Asari landed on spot she previously occupied. 

“Well in that case, team mates should share body heat”

Liara and Shepard settled into a spooning position, Shepard’s nose buried in Liara’s neck. ‘Hmmmm cinnamon’ the Commander thought as she drifted off into a much needed sleep.

…..


End file.
